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HomeMy WebLinkAboutConstituent Letter - Mail Packet - 4/30/2019 - Letter From Mary Patrick Re: Air Pollution Nuisance Code Requirements And Outdoor Residential Wood BurningFrom: Mary Patrick To: Sarah Kane Subject: letter to city council Date: Thursday, April 25, 2019 2:58:37 PM Mary Patrick 4224 Stoney Creek Drive Fort Collins, Colorado 80525 4/25/2019 Dear City Council Members, This letter is in support of the new Air Pollution Nuisance Code Requirements Effective March 29, 2019, and a plea not to let any petition(s) cause you to reduce restrictions in our codes which acknowledge the health and nuisance impacts of smoke on children, the elderly, and people with respiratory illnesses, chemical sensitivities, and heart conditions. The goal of air pollution codes should be to reduce present suffering and help prevent future illness for all people. Not all people are healthy enough to start a petition. Many cannot attend a city council meeting or even call or write. So I write to speak on behalf of the citizens of Fort Collins who cannot speak for themselves – the elderly, the disabled, children, the unborn –most of whom suffer in silence. The Nuisance code requirements and fire pit curfew are positive steps. The code acknowledges (though does not fully address) a very serious public health threat and sets preliminary rules toward solving the problem. Wood smoke is a major part of pollution and its particles and gases have serious health effects when we breathe them. Inhaling wood smoke is more dangerous than inhaling cigarette smoke. Smoke from burning wood contains hundreds of poisonous chemicals that irritate the respiratory tract, cause structural damage to the lungs, and can cause cancer. The biggest health threat from smoke is from fine particles, also called fine particulate matter or PM2.5. These microscopic particles can get into your eyes and respiratory system, where they may cause burning eyes, runny nose, and illnesses, such as bronchitis. (EPA) Fine particles can make asthma symptoms worse and trigger asthma attacks. Fine particles can also trigger heart attacks, stroke, irregular heart rhythms, and heart failure, especially in people who are already at risk for these conditions. (EPA) In addition to particle pollution, wood smoke contains several toxic air pollutants including: benzene, formaldehyde, acrolein, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. (EPA) Wood smoke accounts for 44 percent of total stationary and mobile polycyclic organic matter (POM) emissions, which account for nearly 25 percent of all area source air toxics cancer risks and 15 percent of noncancer respiratory effects. (EPA) Our own city website tells us wood smoke is contributing to the brown cloud we breathe in everyday, “Fort Collins is not immune to the pollution of big city life. One out of every four days, the City violates the State of Colorado's visibility standard, causing a dark haze or "brown cloud." That means we have a high ground level concentration of toxic air pollution. Fort Collins often shows up as “Moderate” on the state’s air quality advisory forecast and people are advised to stay inside. "Particulate pollution is the most important contaminant in our air. ...we know that when particle levels go up, people die.” (Harvard) People exposed to neighbors’ (whether right next door or down the street) smoke often experience dizziness, weakness, irregular heartbeat, shortness of breath, nausea, lung pain, headache, nausea, vomiting, irritated eyes, throat, sinuses and lungs, reduced lung function (especially in children), and more severe symptoms from existing lung disease such as asthma, pneumonia, bronchitis, and emphysema. They are at risk for heart attack and stroke. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen cyanide, and hydrogen sulfide interfere with the body's ability to carry and distribute oxygen. Ammonia and sulfur dioxide cause damage to mucous membranes. Respiratory damage makes it difficult for cells to carry oxygen causing further damage to the body. Long term effects include chronic lung disease, chemical and structural changes in the lungs, and cancer. Even in young, healthy people, exposure to the particle pollution produced by wood burning causes inflammation of the lungs and decreases lung volume. Children are especially susceptible. We need laws to protect our safety, to ensure our rights against abuses by other people. Because people can be selfish and unthinking we need rules and laws to remind us what other people and our environment need. We need rules and laws to set boundaries for what is and is not allowed. We need rules to make things clear. If there is no clear nuisance standard for our community or lack of ability or willingness to enforce the rules, we cannot resolve issues and things become abusive and unsafe. “A nuisance is anything which is injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property. A nuisance may be the subject of an action.” (Utah) Smoke from neighbors’ backyard fires is a nuisance. It prevents us from using our own yards, prevents us from enjoying our own property, and prevents us from enjoying our lives because it makes us sick. Wood smoke interferes with our comfortable enjoyment of life because we cannot open a window at night for cool air. It is not just a matter of not being able to open a window and having to endure an overheating house -- wood smoke prevents us from breathing fresh air in our own home. The smoke is a nuisance which seeps into our houses even if the doors and windows are closed. We end up breathing fine particles and gases into our lungs. This air pollution should not be forced on us. Smoke from backyard fires injures our health. The new air pollution nuisance code is not strong enough; it does not go far enough. The “burners” still get to burn wood and create toxic wood smoke and pollution until 10 p.m. They get to enjoy their yards all day and all evening. The “non-burners” and “sufferers” do not get to enjoy their yards at all! All we get is a chance to open our windows after 10 pm (golly, wow!). We do not get to enjoy our yards, we cannot invite friends over to look up at the stars, our children cannot play outside, we cannot walk in the neighborhood, and we cannot open a window for air or to cool the house all evening long. Night after night we are obstructed from the free use and comfortable enjoyment of our property. All we get is to open a window after 10 pm – if the smoke doesn’t linger. And all the people of Fort Collins get is more pollution added to their brown cloud and more risk of future disease. We have acknowledged there is a serious health threat from wood smoke, so why do we still condone it in our city? Why do we still permit people to hurt other people in the name of fun? When do we say we will do our part to fix what is wrong? We need stronger laws regarding the production of hazardous pollution. Wood burning in neighborhoods where we live subjects us to levels of hazardous pollution that are far higher than any other pollution source including vehicles and industry. Smoke carries and effects whole neighborhoods and has a cumulative effect of on the entire city. The consequences of inhalation of wood smoke can be deadly. It must be regulated. The Air Pollution Nuisance Code needs to be stronger. There needs to be a ban on wood burning in the city – and it needs to be enforced. That is just one part, but a very important part, of the hard, sometimes uncomfortable work that must be done to greatly reduce air pollution in Fort Collins. We cannot succeed if we do not take the first step. Respectfully submitted, Mary L. Patrick marylpat@hotmail.com